On the Job: Data Management Helps AEC Firm Rein in Complex Projects

AWB Engineers, a full-service engineering and architectural firm focused primarily on industrial and commercial projects involving poultry processing, food distribution and cold storage facilities, is saving time and money since implementing a data-management system to bring order to complex projects.

The firm evaluated several systems and selected Synergis Adept from Synergis Software. It chose Adept for its out-of-the-box functionality, flexibility, ease-of-use and the product's good reputation, the company reports. It will use Adept with other in-house software standards: AutoCAD, Autodesk Field Survey and @Last Software's Sketch-Up.

AWB adopted Adept to better control its engineering change and revision processes and save wasted time and expense related to duplicated work by multiple resources. The experience and skill of the technical staff were also a significant value for AWB Engineers, according to the firm.

Adept's built-in view displays more than 300 2D and 3D file formats that can be shared between CAD and non-CAD users. Its magnify tool allows users to enlarge selected portion of the screen for detailed examination.

"I have been extremely impressed with the level of knowledge of everyone I've met in the organization," said Greg Barfield, IT and CAD manager at AWB Engineers. "Synergis makes you feel like you are the most important client they have, even though we are a small company."

Prior to implementing Adept and despite their best efforts, AWB sometimes had two project team members making revisions simultaneously to different copies of the same file. This resulted in a significant amount of extra time completing a project. "While implementing Adept at AWB, we made sure we designed the system to work in a similar fashion to the way people were used to working. That way we maximized adoption and minimized the learning curve," said Scott Lamond, director of Business Development at Synergis Software.

AWB uses the Adept Library Card to search for and track all the project information or metadata (data about the file). Plus, attributes can be automatically extracted into the Library Card from 2D/3D Autodesk and SolidWorks as well as Microsoft Office applications.

In the future, Barfield anticipates that AWB will begin to use Adept to track daily correspondence with clients, specifications, progress photos of projects, proposals and more. "I could very easily see every electronic file that our company produces being managed by Adept."

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